1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a safety device for protecting rescue personnel at a vehicle accident site from being injured by an inadvertently deployed airbag. More particularly, it relates to a device for deflating and restraining an inadvertently deployed vehicle airbag.
2. Description of the Related Art
Self-inflating passenger restraints, commonly referred to as airbags are readily known in the art for use in protecting passengers of automobiles during frontal impact collisions. However, it is also known that, on occasion, an airbag will not deploy upon impact. And, an inadvertent, uncontrolled deployment of such an airbag during a rescue operation to remove an injured, or pinned, person from the vehicle poses a serious risk of injuring either the accident victim, the rescuer or both. As a result of the risk of this type of injury, various safety devices for restricting uncontrolled driver's side airbag deployment are known in the art. Typical of these devices are those disclosed in the following U.S. Letter Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. Inventor Name Issue Date 5,277,440 Jackson, Jr. Jan. 11, 1994 5,911,435 Sablan, Sr. Jun. 15, 1999 5,997,028 Lenz Dec. 7, 1999
What is missing in the art is a safety device that can be affixed to any of the various sized automotive steering wheels presently marketed, that restrains and deflates an inadvertently deployed airbag, and that can be securely locked onto the steering wheel so as to prevent the safety device from being dislodged from the steering wheel.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for deflating and restraining an inadvertently deployed vehicle airbag that readily engages conventionally sized automobile steering wheels.
Another object of the present of the present invention is to provide a device that is securable to an automobile steering wheel in a manner that substantially reduces the possibility of the device from becoming dislodged from the steering wheel.
Other objects and advantages over the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description together with the drawings as described as follows.